The former Brazilian leader has been detained after authorities found he posed a concrete flight risk while under house arrest.
The former head of state was found guilty of planning a armed takeover in last fall and handed more than over two decades in jail, but he remained under confinement pending appeals.
High Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes said the move to detain the 70-year-old politician was a preventative measure after recent developments emerged.
This included seeking to disable his tracking device and a summons to a supporters' gathering that could enable a potential flight.
Legal Document Reveals Escape Risks
In a filing authorising the arrest, the judge said information from the centre monitoring Bolsonaro's house arrest suggested the ex-president's aim to disable the surveillance device to guarantee victory in his escape.
This, it said, would be made easier by the disorder caused by the demonstration called by his child.
His son, Flávio Bolsonaro, who works as a congressional representative, called for a assembly of his supporters near Bolsonaro's home to take place on the weekend.
Flávio Bolsonaro wrote on social media on Friday: "Are you going to fight for your homeland, or watch it all from your smartphone there on your couch? I call on you to fight with us."
He said the demonstration would be so backers could seek divine intervention for his physical condition and for the return of democracy in our nation."
Diplomatic Refuge Fears
Part of the magistrate's determination was the chance of Bolsonaro's move to diplomatic missions near the home, considering that the inquiries revealed a background of arranging to seek refuge through a consular facility", a announcement said.
The court filing highlights that the American diplomatic mission in the federal district, Brasilia, is situated around 13km from Bolsonaro's home.
Worldwide Consequences
Bolsonaro's legal woes have provoked anger from fellow right-wing populist US President President Trump, causing him to impose a fifty percent tax on imports of Brazilian goods.
Bolsonaro is being held in a national police facility in Brasilia and will undergo a detention review on Sunday.
Latest Court Petitions
It was only on Friday that the former president's lawyers asked the High Court to allow him to fulfill his full incarceration period under domestic detention, with digital surveillance.
They also petitioned that the former president be permitted to leave his home for healthcare, saying he required frequent medical attention for respiratory ailments and other health problems.
Background on Conviction
The former president was convicted of heading a plot aimed at maintaining his control after he was defeated in the national vote to his political opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court justices said that he was aware of a plot which involved plans to murder the current president and his running partner, Geraldo Alckmin, and to imprison and murder the presiding judge - the top judicial official who has been managing the former president's case.
The conspiracy was stopped because it couldn't obtain the endorsement of the army and air force commanders. The current president was sworn in without incident on January 1st, 2023.
But a week later, on the eighth of January, thousands of his backers attacked and damaged official structures in the national capital, Brazil's capital.
The security forces intervened and around approximately 1,500 persons were arrested.
The magistrates found that the rioters had been incited by him whose strategy, they said, was for the Brazilian military to take action, restore order and bring him back to power.
At the period, his attorneys called the 27 years and three months sentence unreasonably severe".
He was also banned from running for public office until twenty-sixty - a decade minus two years after the completion of his term.
The former president called the court case a "witch hunt and said it was designed to prevent him running in the next presidential race.
